Nigeria auto industry held down by policy inconsistency—BKG Boss

THE Managing Director of BKG Exhibitions, Mr. Ifeanyi Agwu has stated that the Nigerian automotive sector has been held down by policy inconsistency, and other factors and called on the Federal Government to address the problems without delay.

Mr. Agwu who was speaking at the opening of the Lagos Motor Show on Wednesday said “This is indeed a seriously challenging time in the Automotive Industry in Nigeria. It is a season that has thrown up more daunting challenges than ever before. A lot of companies have closed shop while a larger number are merely existing and direly in need of life supports. This can be confirmed by the number of exhibitors in this edition.

Ordinarily, it is the delight and wish of any serious player in the industry to showcase amongst others but here we are witnessing the opposite”.

The automotive and road transport sectors are very important as they show physically the state of the economy. It is painful and regrettable that the sector is under the siege of policy inconsistencies, forex asphyxiations, economic recession, poor state of infrastructures and their attendant consequences.

I call on the Government to urgently address the myriads of challenges confronting the industry as doing so is the lasting secret to our coming out of economic underdevelopment. This is based on empirical evidences of the potentials of the industry as it continuously plays strategic and catalytic roles in economic development; especially in the areas of employment generation, increasing Gross Domestic Product, Small and Medium Enterprises development; which are key to robust economic development.

At the stage which the sector is in Nigeria now, focus should be more on component parts manufacturing to support a vibrant assembling and eventual manufacturing of vehicles. Spare parts is the place where the real technology transfer takes easily and it is more assured to spur the setting up of Original Equipment Manufacturing and allied institutions to drive the sector.

Automotive business

Thefocus of , this edition: “One Expo; Continental Spread”, is informed by our resolve to ensure that participants use this Expo to access other African autoparts/accessories markets since a lot of them source their stocks from the Nigerian market.

Nigeria is very important to the global automotive business as virtually all brands in the industry compete to enter and capture the market. I urge all the stakeholders not to allow the litany of challenges evident in the sector to squeeze life out of the industry. We all need to utilize a strategic platform as this one to draw attention to happenings in the sector through our active participations. This is why despite the daunting challenges we have been facing in organizing this annual event we resolved not to take the easy way out which is to quit. The emphasis is on keeping the sector alive.

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